Government of the Republic of Serbia
On July 15, the Prime Minister of the Republic of Serbia, Aleksandar Vučić, announced the introduction of new criminal offences into our legislation – sexual harassment and stalking, as well as stricter minimum and maximum sentences for following criminal offences – sexual intercourse with a child, sexual intercourse with a helpless person and rape.
He stressed that the amendments to the penal code, introduction of new offences and the increase of minimum and maximum sentences, were some of the measures designed to combat various forms of domestic and social violence, and bullying. He added that the Law would also sanction the attempts to commit certain offences and ensure that the perpetrators receive prison sentences, and not suspended sentences. Moreover, specialised police task forces would be established, and one more security measure for potential victims of abuse would be introduced, and that is the psychosocial treatment of the abuser and the monitoring of his behaviour.
Mr Vučić announced that new laws on free legal aid and domestic abuse protection would be adopted, and the coordination between the social services, health department and the police would be improved with certain legal solutions.
The Minister of Justice, Nikola Selaković, announced that the Government of the Republic of Serbia would establish a permanent working body which would include government bodies and the civil society organisations. This body would ensure the enforcement of the laws on domestic and social violence. He added that that included specialisation of police officers and public prosecutors, as well as a particular procedure with which a violent act would be reported.
The Minister of Internal Affairs, Nebojša Stefanović, highlighted the importance of adequately trained police officers working in the field who would know how to appropriately and lawfully protect the victim from the assailant, with that he announced new training courses for police officers.
Apart from the Prime Minister, the Minister of Justice and the Minister of Interior Affairs, the discussion was attended by the Minister of Labour, Employment, Veteran and Social Affairs, Aleksandar Vulin, the representatives from the Safehouse for Women in Serbia and the Autonomous Women’s Centre.
Source: www.srbija.gov.rs
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